Torchlight, which was originally a PC game has finally come to XBLA. With the game being a success on PC for its simplistic charm and Diablo like style, has its success transferred to a console? Thankfully Runic bring us the great Torchlight game that we played on PC with a new interface to suit, but how does it compare?
The first thing you'll notice as you load up the game is the soundtrack. The ominous atmosphere is established and you'll feel immediately compelled to learn more about the game. The tracks are slow and methodical, you can feel that there is a problem in the town of Torchlight and it will be your responsibility to sort it out!
Before your quests can begin you have an opportunity to create your character from three available classes; Destroyer, Vanquisher and Alchemist. Choosing any one of these options will offer you the ability to use melee, ranged or spell attacks respectively. All three offer something unique and will impact the way the game is played, however no single class appears to have a distinct advantage over the other. Each class can also learn its own powers which are based on their attack style. The Destroyer learns offensive moves which take advantage of the character's brute power, and are closed quarters based. Vanquisher has special ranged based bow and arrow attacks and can also learn trap based moves to make for easy targets with her bow. The Alchemist has extra powerful spells at their disposal, and can also learn to summon creatures such as minions to help him during battle.
Also whilst creating your character you have a choice of pet, this does not effect what your pet does or how your character will progress, it's an aesthetic quality. You have a choice between a dog, lynx and chakawary lizard, all of which look interesting and aid you during your quest, more than you may be initially lead to believe. Despite being able to choose the form of your pet you will receive fish during the game which have varied effects on your pet, which can change them into something completely different. For example the starting fish transforms your pet into a powerful troll which will have a positive effect in battle but is also slower as a result. Other than your pet helping you in battle, it is also beneficial in another way; selling your loot. As you will discover later on, loot plays a key role in this game and you will be earning a lot of it. As the game is mostly based in a dungeon you will need to sell your loot on a regular basis. You can easily get rid of items you don't want by simply moving them into your pet's backpack and sending them off to town using a simple command. Even though this is not as simple as clicking a single button on the PC version, it is hardly a long winded process and can be done at ease in a few seconds.
Once you have finished with the creation of your character you will enter a cutscene in which the basic storyline will be explained. You have come to Torchlight because there is a problem in the old mines and help is needed to try and find out what it is. There have been several earthquakes and the friend of a woman you meet has been captured underground. It is your job to enter these mines ( where you will spend the majority of the game ) and fight off the many different enemies that lurk in its depths. The basic concept is to explore the extent of the mines, as you progress the enemies in turn will become more challenging to reflect your character's increasing level. Every time you level up you'll receive a number of stat points to assign to your character in either strength, dexterity, magic or defence. The character you have chosen will influence this decision, due to their specific strengths and weaknesses. If you are a Destroyer you'll want to boost your strength, Vanquisher dexterity and Alchemist magic.
When you're fighting the screen can at times become very crowded. With such a lot happening in one small space there can at times be framerate issues. Because of this drop you are sometimes unaware of the rate at which your health is diminishing and may find yourself close to death without realising. This is quite annoying but if you spam the LB button to heal yourself when this happens there shouldn't be too much of an issue. If you do however die you will be given three options on how to deal with this unfortunate accident. You can either spawn back in Torchlight town at no extra cost. Another option is that you spawn at the start of the floor you are on at the cost of some gold. Or finally you can spawn exactly where you died for the cost of gold and XP. Whichever one you choose is really up to you, but choosing to spawn where you died would perhaps be the most advantageous as you can then finish off the already damaged enemies and gain the XP and gold back straight away. Whereas if you spawn at the start of the floor all the enemies will have regained their health, which could leave you in a similar situation you were trying to get yourself out of.
As you progress through the game the care and attention made towards the dungeon floor layouts becomes more apparent. With more than one path being offered you can either try and continue up and onwards or go off the beaten track. Even though it does not tell you which path is the right one, it appears fairly obvious which way to go. Despite this if you do venture off you'll end up in the right location eventually, even though it may take a while longer. Knowing that all paths eventually lead to one does encourage you to explore the loot-filled side areas.
Loot is a focal point of the game, like the level system it gives you a sense of advancement. As you progress through the game you will start to fight larger and larger enemies which will drop a considerable amount of loot. Further into the dungeons you will also receive better weapons. This well thought out way of supplying loot makes the game much more enjoyable as your weapons always fit your level and power which allows you to attack at your full capability.
This loot is multiplied when you enter a boss battle. Boss' in this game are massive enemies which have been causing earthquakes to happen and it is your job to defeat them. Despite each boss battle being pretty similar, there's no specific way to defeat them except to keep attacking and healing. All boss' are in a similar scenario of a circle arena where they will appear and you'll fight it with some other smaller enemies. You'll receive a fantastic sense of achievement after defeating these tough opponents, complimented by a horde of loot. Another reason why completing a boss battle is so rewarding is that you'll receive Avatar awards from the game. Despite there only being 2 it is still a nice little addition; you'll receive a T shirt for defeating the second boss and a cap for defeating the last! This provides you with an incentive towards completing the game, so that you can dress up your avatar in Torchlight gear!
There are a large variety of enemies in the game. As you progress through each floor of the mines you will encounter many different enemies. This is great at first as you're trying to discover which skills are more effective on which enemies. Despite the variety on each floor being vast, the variety between floors is not so much. Except for the bigger 'named' enemies, their smaller counterparts seem to be the same on each floor, which is quite monotonous. Once you learn how to defeat these enemies the smaller enemies can start to feel like chore, with no real challenge to them. This often results in small segments of the game feeling boring as you're just repeatedly using the skill you know works best.
Using skills in Torchlight is fairly simply, as are all the controls. Originally being a PC game I myself was sceptical on how they could map all the hot bar commands etc onto a game pad. However Runic have done quite a good job of it and it's easy to use in every way. The potions are assigned to LB(health) and RB(mana), and your skills are assigned to LT, RT and the face buttons. Even though at first it may be frustrating to be limited to 4 skills you soon learn your favourite ones, and it is also fairly easy to swap them out. All other commands are found via the back button which will bring up your menu where you can find inventory, stats, skills and pet commands. Even though the process takes slightly longer than on the PC version, it's not by much and is fairly quick for an RPG on a console.
After you have completed the main story of the game, which is a good lengthy 10-12 hours, there is much more to do in the town of Torchlight. There are people scattered across the town with an exclamation mark above their head indicating that they need your help. In these side quests you will enter new smaller dungeons in which you normally have to retrieve a piece of loot and bring it back. These new maps are well designed, much like the main dungeon, but can also get a little repetitive.
Overall Torchlight is a fun filled RPG with great innovative ideas such as the pet system. With it catering for all types of players and offering a meaty campaign at 1200MSP this game is well worth your money. Repetition is its main problem as you'll continue to do the same thing over and over during each floor of the dungeon, often resulting in fatigue. That said due to the addictive nature of the gameplay you'll no doubt end up returning to the game after a short while. The controls work perfectly well and are complimented by a fantastic soundtrack. Torchlight is one of the more enjoyable Xbox Live arcade titles available on the service.
Torchlight Gets An Official Game-Pad 8.8/10
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